Unimog 409

The Unimog 409 was the only compact Unimog implement-carrier series. Daimler-Benz built 790 of them at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Gaggenau between 1996 and 1998. Shown in May 1996 at the IFAT fair in Munich, it was an entirely new design for work in tight and low spaces. It had a cab of fibre composite developed by Dornier and the Vario-Pilot steering system, which moves the wheel and pedals so that the vehicle can be driven from either seat, and it pioneered the technology of the much larger Unimog 405 series. It was also the first Unimog with a torsionally stiff frame. Two models were offered: the UX 100 H, with a short wheelbase, permanent four-wheel drive and hydrostatic drive, and the UX 100 M, with a long wheelbase, a mechanical gearbox and a top speed of 115 kilometres per hour. On 1 January 1999 the assembly equipment and rights were sold to Hako, which kept building it as the Kommobil until the end of 2002.